Preparation

Trim away any bone slivers from the exposed meat. Remove any visible excess fat. Square up the long sides of the shoulder to make it neat and uniform.

Place the pork shoulder in a large aluminum pan. (There’s no skin to hold the liquid in, as there is on a whole hog, so the pan is necessary to catch the excess liquid.) Inject the shoulder with 2 to 3 quarts of the hog injection, all over the shoulder in about 1-inch squares. Let the injected shoulder sit, loosely covered, in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Turn the shoulder upside-down in the pan, so that any excess injection that might remain infuses the meat. Let it sit upside-down for 15 to 20 minutes.

In the meantime, heat a smoker to 250˚F.

Take the shoulder out of the pan and sprinkle the rub all over it, making sure to get the area by the shank. Place the shoulder, in its aluminum pan, in the smoker and cook for 3 hours.

Remove the shoulder from the smoker. Pour the apple juice into a clean aluminum pan, and transfer the shoulder to the pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place it in the smoker. Cook for 6 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 205˚F.

Remove the pan from the smoker. Discard the foil. Brush the hog glaze all over both sides of the shoulder. Return the shoulder to the pan, put the pan back in the smoker, and cook for 1 more hour while adding no more heat to the smoker and allowing the internal temperature of the smoker to drop. The shoulder will effectively rest in the smoker this way.

Remove the pan from the smoker, and serve. Where I’m from, a pork shoulder is not sliced—it’s pulled apart in chunks. There are a couple of different ways to do it, with knives and tongs and such, but the very best—and easiest—is with your hands. Wearing heavy-duty gloves, simply pull the meat apart gently and let your guests have at it. You can put it in a sandwich just like this, or you can chop it up after you’ve pulled it, if you like.

Why Boston?

I used to wonder why this part of the shoulder was called “Boston” anything, since it’s so associated with Southern barbecue. The folks from the National Pork Board say it plain: “In prerevolutionary New England and into the Revolutionary War, some pork cuts (not those highly valued, or ‘high on the hog,’ like loin and ham) were packed into casks or barrels (also known as ‘butts’) for storage and shipment.” So, the way the hog shoulder was cut in the Boston area became known in other regions as “Boston butt.”

Half and Half

Here’s a tip from my competitive barbecue cooking that you can use in your backyard. I make a little solution I call “half and half.” It’s equal parts vinegar sauce and water, and I heat it up until it’s hot but not boiling. Then I dip pieces of shoulder in it before I put them in the judging box. Why do I do this? Because it keeps the meat from drying out and getting cold. You always want your meat to stay moist and warm. You can do this at home, too. Before you serve any meat like brisket or pork shoulder, toss it with a little half and half and then put it on a platter. Better yet, apply the solution to the back side of slices of brisket and pork before you place them on a platter. This technique will keep your meat from drying out.

Myron Mixon was quite literally born to barbecue. His father, Jack, owned a barbecue take-out business in Vienna, Georgia, which Myron helped run. His parents started selling Jack's Old South Barbecue Sauce, and after his father died in 1996, Myron thought that by entering competitions he could sell some sauce. He was hooked. He has appeared on the Today show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Kelly Alexander is a former editor at Saveur and Food & Wine magazines, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, Gourmet , and Newsweek , among others. She also teaches food writing at Duke University and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

SELECT LATEST REVIEWS

The worries over MSG are way overhyped and the remnants of bygone public misconceptions. Made this for family, with so-call MSG sensitivities, nothing but smiles and ooohhh's and ahhhh's. Really good recipe that will be made again and again.

cmweldon from memphis / 08.31.12

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CliffCarter I have not tried this recipe, but I can answer your question. This recipe does not call for cooking the shoulder for 6 hours. It cooks for 3 hours, then 6 hours, then 1 more hour with the heat down. The 10 hours of the recipe is closer to the 12 hours you recommend to the 6 you thought he was cooking at.

celesteme / 07.22.12

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Cooking this huge cut of meat at 250° for 6 hours will not get you to an internal temp of 205°. Myron Mixon ,by all accounts, cooks at temps of at least 350°-375° in his water smoker. I recommend using the butt portion of the shoulder only,not the whole thing, if cooking at 250°, expect it to take 12hrs+.

CliffCarter / 07.20.12

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Oops...sorry for the typos!

mg927 / 05.11.11

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All in all this looks like a great pulled pork recipe from amwell respected pitmaster. I am however very surprised tomsee the use of MSG in the hog injection. Personally I avoid MSG at all costs and most decent restaurants in my area advertise "MSG free" food. Any thoughts as to why this ingredient would be used and is it crucial to the outcome??
Surprised in Saskatoon.